One thing we decided was that every profession would be playable by every race, because we didn’t want players to be in a position where they have to play a certain race they’re not as interested in because they want to play a certain profession.

Paragons are probably too close to Guardians already though (apart from Paragons in GW1 being ranged mainly) since they both focus a lot on buffing and such.

Dervish would be more unique and interesting probably.
For weapons:
Bring in Greataxe which the existing 2h classes could also use
Scythe (prof specific weapon, or possible share with Necromancer)
Staff
Possibly 1 other already existing option (no idea what though)

EDIT: A shapeshifter would be very cool though. Not a Druid as such who turns into only "natural" animals, but animals should be a part of it. I'd like to see some unconventional animals though (ie, not just bears and cats). How about a spider form, or drake form?

Personal preference would be chaos phantom. Light&dark combo with stealth, illusions, teleportation, gravity control kind of caster ^^. But that's just me. Will roll necro and guardian and maybe mesmer and mix them together in my mind